Liverpool and Manchester City to battle for breakthrough 21-year-old playmaker

Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the radar of Liverpool and Manchester City

Calciomercato (via LFC Transfer Room) [h/t Liverpool.com] claim that Napoli’s Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is on the radar of Liverpool and their league rivals Manchester City.

The 21-year-old joined Napoli in July 2022 from Dinamo Batumi. Until March 2022, Khvicha was at Russian club Rubin Kazan, but following the war situation, he chose to make the move back to his home country to join Batumi and played there for four months.

Ever since his move to the Italian giants, Khvicha has been playing tremendously well. In 14 appearances

, he has seven goals and eight assists. One of those assists came against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League wherein his team won 4-1 against Jurgen Klopp’s side.

The winger has had a terrific spell so far with Napoli, and his long-term deal with the Italian giants lasts until 2027 (Transfermarkt). The club are apparently planning to add a release clause of £65m to his contract as per Daily Mail.

‘Kvaradona’ at Merseyside

The Georgia international also has 19 caps for his national team and has scored 10 goals and six assists for his country. The left-winger has drawn a lot of comparisons to Mohamed Salah as well. Apart from playing out wide on the left flank, Khvicha can play right wing as well as a second striker.

At merely 21 years of age, with a ceiling as high as the case is for Kvaratskhelia, he is showing all the signs of an extremely bright future. Whether that is at Liverpool, is the question here. The Reds have an abundance of players presently playing advanced roles including Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott all of whom are around the same age or younger than Khvicha.

Hence, adding one more to the lineup doesn’t necessarily make sense, but in the case of such a player who has loads of potential, it would naturally make the clubs think about whether or not to lure the player in.

More Liverpool News

• Jurgen Klopp opens up on the reversal to Nottingham Forest
• Liverpool gaffer Jurgen Klopp lauds the adaptability of Joe Gomez
• Jurgen Klopp says that Liverpool still have a lot of ambitions this season

With Liverpool’s rivals Manchester City also showing interest in the player, it would be wise to at least make sure that such a quality player does not go the way of a rival and try to bring him in at Anfield, albeit the fact that the Reds have many attackers at bay.